Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
The study finds these relationships are neither rare nor always sought: many begin during routine, pragmatic interactions and deepen over time.
Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to tasks and productivity, it is reshaping how people connect emotionally. A new study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has revealed that thousands are forming intimate, often accidental, relationships with chatbots, transforming digital tools into companions, confidants, and even partners. While many report reduced loneliness and improved mental health, others warn of dependency and blurred boundaries between reality and simulation. With lawsuits, policy debates, and corporate responses already underway, the findings raise urgent questions about what human intimacy looks like in an era of AI.
The analysis from MIT Media Lab offers the first large-scale look at adults who form romantic or intimate bonds with chatbots, using 1,506 top posts from the Reddit community r/MyBoyfriendIsAI collected between December 2024 and August 2025. The study finds these relationships are neither rare nor always sought: many begin during routine, pragmatic interactions and deepen over time. The authors combined unsupervised thematic analysis with custom classifiers to map six dominant conversation themes and to measure concrete outcomes reported by users. The Reddit community that has been studied, has about 27,000 members; the sample captures the most engaged posts and therefore the most salient experiences shared publicly. The team deliberately treated posts as lived experience rather than an abstract technical problem, aiming to quantify both benefits (reduced loneliness, improved mood) and risks (dependency, dissociation).
Contrary to expectation, most bonds did not start in dedicated companion apps: a significant number of posts named general-purpose LLMs such as ChatGPT, while purpose-built platforms like Replika accounted for only a small share. Many users describe an organic arc, from help with a task to personal disclosure to sustained emotional attachment, a trajectory the researchers call ‘accidental intimacy.’ The paper also documents behavioural strategies, prompt-writing, backup prompts and rituals, to preserve continuity across model updates, and reports that software changes can cause grief comparable to break-ups.
Quantitatively, 25.4 per cent of analysed posts described clear net benefits (for example, reduced loneliness), while 3.0 per cent described net harm. Other recorded concerns included emotional dependency (9.5 per cent), reality dissociation (4.6 per cent), avoidance of real-world relationships (4.3 per cent) and, in a small number of cases, suicidal ideation (1.7 per cent). The authors stress selection biases and the limits of forum data, but say the pattern is clear: AI companionship can be both a lifeline and a source of risk, often for the same people.
The debate is already moving into courts and product roadmaps. Families have filed lawsuits alleging that conversational AI contributed to teen suicides, and regulators and firms are responding: OpenAI has described plans for age-aware experiences and parental controls for under-18 users. Policymakers and designers face a tension the researchers highlight , protect vulnerable users without dismissing adults’ autonomy to form meaningful connections.
Subhadra Srivastava is a Sub Editor at WION with two years of experience in media industry covering beats such as space, defence, and geopolitics. Focused on clarity and accuracy, …Read More